The 88th playing of the Masters tees off on Thursday, and like every other staging, it’ll trigger golf enthusiasm throughout the world. The year’s first major championship is traditionally a sign of spring. The tour players are ready for a serious test after three months of tournaments of much lesser importance. That’s just the way…
Daily Herald Columns
Rahm still winless on LIV Tour but remains a Masters threat
MIAMI, FL. – Last year’s Masters was the first tournament where PGA Tour players competed against those who defected to the LIV Golf League. The LIV guys got the better of that one. Four current LIV players finished one -two-three and a tie for fourth. That spoke well for the Saudi-financed circuit that…
LIV Tour will return to Chicago after all — but at a new site
MIAMI, Florida – The Chicago area will have a major professional golf tournament this year after all. The LIV Golf League is returning, but not at Rich Harvest. Jerry Rich, owner of the Sugar Grove private club that hosted LIV events in 2022 and 2023, invited the fledgling Saudi-based circuit to return this year but…
Picking the Masters winner is getting even more difficult
It’s a golf tradition like no other. The Masters – first of the year’s four major championships — is coming up next week. That means for me – and many of you – it’s time to predict the champion. That fun competition is much more difficult in golf than any other sport. I covered my…
Malnati an emotional winner at Valspar tourney
PALM HARBOR, Florida — The winners at PGA Tour events are frequently emotional, but Peter Malnati was in tears immediately after his last putt dropped at the Valspar Championship on Sunday. Malnati, 36, won his second title nine years after his first. He had qualified for only three major championships and never made it to…
Mitchell masters Snakepit to lead third round of Valspar
PALM HARBOR, Florida – The story lines in the first three tournaments of the Florida Swing were certainly different than the one developing in the last one. The most notable things in the Cognizant Classic of the Palm Beaches, which opened four PGA Tour events in March, was a name change for the tournament (it…
Can Scheffler play any better than he did at Bay Hill?
ORLANDO, Florida — The Arnold Palmer Invitational was a wonderfully competitive event through 54 holes, but not during Sunday’s final round at Bay Hill. In fact, this latest Signature Event on the PGA Tour was downright boring, and you can blame Scottie Scheffler for that. Scheffler was just too good on a beautiful day,…
Two crazy days at the Arnold Palmer Invitational; Now what?
ORLANDO, Florida – The second and third rounds of the Arnold Palmer Invitational couldn’t have been more different. Six players – Shane Lowry, Hideki Matsuyama, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Scottie Scheffler and Wyndham Clark – were tied for the 36-hole lead, and that was the most co-leaders after 36 on the PGA Tour since the…
LET Tour starts a team series in Florida with Saudi ties
CLEARWATER, Florida – The scheduling for the Aramco Team Series opener was unusual, its opening event being slated opposite the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational just an hour away in Orlando. With a teeoff Friday on International Women’s Day, the Aramco event is unusual enough. Imagine a women’s team event — one put on…
Rosemont show is `unofficial’ start to Chicago golf season
Carrie Williams, the executive director of the Illinois PGA, has no problem calling this week’s 39th annual Chicago Golf Show “the unofficial kickoff to the Chicago golf season.’’ That is what it has become for more than three decades. The annual mid-winter event begins its three-day run on Friday (FEB 23) at the Stephens Convention…